STA, 25 August 2020 - Slovenia recorded 21 new coronavirus cases on Monday after conducting 1,370 tests, fresh official data show. A total of 17 persons were hospitalised with Covid-19, same as the day before, none requiring intensive care. There were no Covid-19 related fatalities.

Two persons were discharged from hospital yesterday. The latest cases were detected in 14 municipalities, most in Ljubljana and Velike Lašče in the south (each 3).

Government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin said at today's daily briefing that the number of imported cases had been slightly decreasing. Slovenia recorded only one imported case, from Croatia, yesterday, while 13 cases are still being investigated.

He said the government would review the coronavirus situation in Slovenia and abroad in more detail tomorrow, and discuss preparations for autumn.

Based on the past 14-day period, the number of infections per 100,000 residents in Slovenia currently stands at 20. "We are somewhere in the middle of the yellow zone, but we are working to reduce this number especially because school starts next Tuesday," Kacin said.

Interior Minister Aleš Hojs noted that no major tailbacks had been recorded on the Slovenian-Croatian border prior to today's introduction of mandatory quarantine for arrivals from Croatia, because Slovenians had been informed about the measure in time and had been gradually returning home.

In the past three days, 226,000 persons entered Slovenia from Croatia, including 63,000 Slovenians, Hojs said, quoting police data.

A total of 2,138 quarantine orders were issued during this three-day period, but mostly for Western Balkan countries that have been on Slovenia's red list for a while, he said. Since the 14-day quarantine requirement was imposed for Croatia, more than 60 orders have been issued, but those were presumably also issued for arrivals from other Western Balkan countries.

Hojs added that in 90% of the cases, a quarantine order at the border is issued in 5-7 minutes, with some of them issued in two minutes and the maximum time being 21 minutes.

The minister said that according to Croatia's data, 30,000-40,000 Slovenians were still in Croatia. Croatian newspaper Večernji List meanwhile puts the figure at at least 45,000.

Slovenia has recorded 2,686 SARS-CoV-2 infections so far, and the national death toll is currently at 133, according to the national tracker covid-19.sledilnik. Active cases meanwhile number 414, the highest daily figure since mid-April.

The latest statistics on coronavirus and Slovenia, and the latest police news on red, green and yellow list countries. All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia. Can I transit Slovenia? Find out from the police...

STA, 25 August 2020 - The Slovenian tourism industry, which has been severely affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, saw an upbeat trend in Slovenian tourist arrivals and nights in July, partly offsetting the low numbers from the first half of the year, show the latest figures released by the Statistics Office on Tuesday.

Over 653,000 arrivals were recorded at accommodation facilities in July, down 27.5% compared to July 2019, with the number of nights down by 18.5% to 2.07 million.

However, the number of Slovenian tourists in the overall number increased by 176% to almost 404,000, and the number of nights they spent there by 155% to nearly 1.4 million.

The number of foreign arrivals meanwhile dropped by 67% to slightly over 249,300, and the number of nights they spent in Slovenia by 66% to over 670,300.

Germans spent the most nights in Slovenia in July, or 33%, followed by the Dutch and Austrians (9% each), Czechs (8%) and Hungarians (7%).

The most popular areas for tourists, domestic and foreign, were mountainous areas, which accounted for 35% of all tourist nights, followed by the coast (29%).

Thirty percent of all nights were made at hotels, 27% at private rooms, self-catering units and houses, and 22% at camping sites.

Although several areas in Slovenia have had a good summer season, Slovenian tourism has been considerably affected by the epidemic, with facilities in full lockdown for several weeks.

The January-to-July period saw almost 1.6 million tourist arrivals, a 54% drop compared to the same seven-month period in 2019. Tourist nights meanwhile dropped by 48% to around 4.6 million.

In the first half of the year, arrivals by Slovenian tourists dropped by 5% but a 2% rise was recorded in nights generated by domestic guests compared to January-July last year. The number of foreign tourists arriving in Slovenia plummeted by 71% and the nights they generated by 68%.

The figures are in line with the Slovenian Tourist Board's projections of a 70% drop in foreign arrivals for the year and of a 50% overall drop because of a rise in domestic tourists.

To help the industry survive, the government introduced a special voucher scheme, giving every permanent resident EUR 200 to spend in Slovenia until the end of the year on bed and breakfast, with minors receiving EUR 50.

Presenting the latest figures about the vouchers, Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said Sunday was a new milestone as over 500,000 vouchers had been redeemed.

"In a good two months since this measure was introduced, a quarter of all vouchers have already been spent, while bookings for another 30,000 have already been made."

Figures from the Financial Administration show that 511,554 vouchers, worth EUR 69.8 million, were redeemed between 19 June and 23 August, whereas the total value of vouchers available is around EUR 357 million.

Počivalšek believes the tourist vouchers have saved the summer season for many tourism companies or helped some survive the epidemic, at the same time enabling many to be able to afford to go on a holiday.

He is also confident that thanks to the vouchers, Slovenians have discovered many corners that have so far been less known and less visited. He hopes the thrill at discovering Slovenia turns into a trend of Slovenians spending at least part of their holidays at home.

Although it is too early to take stock of the summer season, Počivalšek said "we are better off than some comparable countries".

In July and August, tourist numbers at some locations were already on a par with or even better than last year, the only difference being that domestic tourists outnumbered foreign ones, he explained.

He believes these figures could hardly be reached if the epidemiological situation had not been kept under control. He thus urged tourism companies to be innovative in providing for coronavirus safety, so that foreign tourists could soon return in bigger numbers.

As for extending the use of vouchers into the spring of 2021, the minister said efforts were now focussed on encouraging people to use them by the end of the year.

"Should any other measures be needed, I believe we'll take them in time," Počivalšek said at a news conference in Ljubljana.

Over EUR 1 million in vouchers was spent a day in the period between 19 June and 23 August, with the average age of tourists using the vouchers at slightly over 38.

The figures also show over 55,700 people aged an average 64 years transferred their vouchers on family members, meaning many elderly did not go on holiday themselves.

You can see more of this data at SURS

STA, 25 August 2020 - The 16th Izola international film festival will bring a total of 36 feature films and 67 shorts to the Slovenian coast this summer, with the main part of the festival taking place between 26 and 30 August in the coastal town of Izola.

The number of films remains comparable to previous years, whereas the format of the festival has been somewhat adjusted to the coronavirus.

Besides the main segment in Izola, a number of films have been screened around Slovenia since 16 June, according to the director of the Kino Otok - Isola Cinema festival, Tanja Hladnik.

Tartini Festival Brings Baroque, Classical Music to Piran & Koper, 20 Aug to 11 Sept, 2020

The third segment will take place online in September, when the Slovenian Cinematheque hosts a retrospective of Portuguese director Pedro Costa.

Balloon by Chinese director Pema Tseden and The Orphanage by Iranian director Sadat Shahrbanoo will open and close the main festival segment, respectively.

Both films are from Signals, the section which features established filmmakers, film selector Varja Močnik explained at a recent news conference in Ljubljana.

She also highlighted Corpus Christi by Polish director Jan Komasa, Oliver Laxe's Fire Will Come, Islandic director Runar Runarsson's Echo and Sons of Denmark by Ulaa Salim, which focuses on a terrorist attack in Copenhagen.

The Good Neighbours section will feature two Serbian films, Ivana the Terrible by Ivana Mladenović and My Morning Laughter by Marko Djordjević.

A new section, Chiaroscuro, will bring several films focussing on burning issues which are usually not in the focus of media attention, including Francis Alys's Sandlines, the Story of History, a story about children in Iraq.

The other new section introduced this year, dubbed Extraserial, brings Bruno Dumont's black comedy TV series Coincoin and the Extra-Humans.

A total of 61 short films from 22 countries will be shown as part of the Video on the Beach section brings, while children will also be able to watch a series of films for them.

Hladnik said that some films would be screened twice because of Covid-19 restrictions allowing smaller numbers of visitors at one venue.

Get more details on the Kino Otok website

STA, 24 August 2020 - In Kočevski Rog, a vast forest area riddled with chasms in the south-east of Slovenia, known for being a site of post WWII-executions, archaeologists have retrieved the remains of about 250 victims from a mass grave uncovered in May. Most of the victims were young men, mainly civilians, killed in the autumn of 1945.

Presenting the findings in Ljubljana on Monday, the government commission for mass graves said that the remains had been retrieved from Chasm 3, as the grave has been termed, in July.

Archaeologist Uroš Košir said that his team found a large amount of ammunition in the chasm and along its outer edges, leading them to believe that executions were conducted on the spot.

Analysis of entry and exit wounds found on sculls has show that the victims had been killed with automatic rifles. Remains of at least six different hand grenades were also found in the chasm, as well as several unexploded devices.

Related: Mass Concealed Graves in Slovenia, an Interactive Map

Bodies were covered with rocks and debris, however, the excavation team also found bodies on top of these. "We suspect these were captives tasked with covering the chasm, but later ended up inside as well," said Košir.

Preliminary anthropological analysis results show that the remains belonged to about 250 individuals, mostly civilians. All victims were over 15 years old, quite a few were in their early 20s.

Most of the victims were men. While female remains have been found, the team believes there were no more than five women in the grave.

About 400 buttons were found, mostly civilian, some textiles, spoons, combs, mirrors, personal belongings, rosaries and lockets, mostly Slovenian. Newspaper scraps were also found in the grave, said Košir.

Pavel Jamnik, the head of the police campaign dubbed Reconciliation, said today that they had first been made aware of this grave in 2002, but had then been looking for it some 500 metres away.

Zdravko Bučar, the head of the Novo Mesto Cavers' Club, said the 14-metre chasm was found due to a map deviation.

Jamnik said that an analysis of prisoner records in relation to local prisons by the former Yugoslav security and agency OZNA showed that in September of 1945 a selection was made among Novo Mesto prisoners. While some were freed, others were taken to be killed, some of them had definitely been taken to this site.

While selections were made by OZNA, transports were carried out by KNOJ, Jamnik said. The commission had previously talked to a former member of KNOJ, a corps of the Yugoslav Partisans in charge of internal security, who had transported prisoners to designated locations, where they were handed over to Partisans speaking Slovenian and other Yugoslav languages.

Jože Dežman, the commission president, said that the Kočevski Rog killings had taken on new dimensions in recent years. While the chasm Pod Krenom seems to be the grave of Serbian and Montenegrin victims, the chasm in Macesnova Gorica seems to hold Slovenian victims.

Dežman believes that Chasm 3 could provide some indication as to what had happened to the Novo Mesto Homeguard, a group of several thousand who failed to flee after World War Two.

You watch a discussion on post-WW2 massacres in Slovenia featuring the authors of Slovenia 1945: Memories of Death and Survival After World War II here

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also follow us on Facebook and get all the news in your feed.

This summary is provided by the STA:

Two Covid-19 deaths, 14 new cases, no delays at Croatia-Slovenia border

LJUBLJANA - Two people died of Covid-19 in Slovenia on Sunday to put the death toll at 133, and 14 tested positive as 543 coronavirus tests were carried out, according to the most recent government data. 410 infections were active, of which 17 infected persons were in hospital. Thousands of Slovenian holidaymakers were meanwhile expected to return from Croatia today, because a of Tuesday arrivals will be ordered to quarantine for 14 days. However, traffic ran smoothly at the border. Interior Minister Aleš Hojs assessed that the returns had gotten dispersed across the past week and that some also opted for quarantine. But the government and health authorities expect more infections in the coming fortnight, since the number of Covid-19 cases has skyrocketed in the neighbouring country.

Govt spokesperson says Croatia becoming threat to EU

LJUBLJANA - Jelko Kacin, the government's spokesperson for Covid-19, described Croatia as a "serious threat to all other EU countries" due to the coronavirus situation there. "Time will tell how serious the situation there is. I have many reasons to worry," he told the latest edition of Reporter magazine. Croatia successfully tackling coronavirus is in Slovenia's strategic interest, he said, highlighting that Slovenia would not allow the situation to deteriorate the way it did in spring.

Pahor to visit Steinmeier in Berlin on Wednesday

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor will be on a working visit in Berlin on Wednesday to meet his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier to continue the regular dialogue the pait had started over the phone during the Covid-19 pandemic. Pahor and Steinmeier assessed in Tuesday's telephone conversation that in-depth talks were needed about various topical issues. They also stressed the importance of European unity in facing the Covid-19 pandemic and other strategic challenges in the EU.

Govt rating down in POP TV poll, but SDS still in the lead

LJUBLJANA - The rating for the Janez Janša government dropped for the fourth consecutive month in the latest POP TV poll for August, but the senior coalition Democrats (SDS) continue to top party rankings, followed by the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) and Social Democrats (SD), which share the second place. The share of those who do not support the government rose from 50.4% to 53%, and 9.6% were undecided. President Borut Pahor remains the most popular politician, followed by Health Minister Tomaž Gantar, European Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič and SocDem leader Tanja Fajon.

Slovenia and Georgia should strengthen cooperation

LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Anže Logar and his Georgian counterpart David Zalkaliani discussed over the phone bileteral relations, and agreed the economic and political cooperation as well as cooperation as part of multilateral forums should be further enhanced. Logar presented Slovenia's preparations for its upcoming EU presidency in the second half of 2021, which will also highlight Eastern Partnership. Zalkaliani in turn acquainted Logar with political developments in Georgia and the preparations for the October general election. The political situation in Belarus after the presidential election was also discussed.

Left proposing referendum on EUR 780m in defence investment

LJUBLJANA - The opposition Left proposed to parliament to call a consultative referendum on a bill envisaging EUR 780 million in defence expenditure in 2021-2026. The party argued money that would suffice to build several infection clinics, 170 care homes or 100,000 flats for the young will instead be spent on an imaginary enemy. Defence Minister Matej Tonin said this debate could actually be good, since "we will finally be able to talk about the Slovenian Armed Forces" and answer the question of "whether we want a Slovenian army or not".

Remains of 250 victims of post-WWII killings found in Kočevski Rog

LJUBLJANA - Archaeologists presented details of the remains of about 250 victims exhumed in July from a mass grave uncovered in May in Kočevski Rog, a vast forest area riddled with chasms in the south-east of Slovenia, which has become synonymous with post WWII-executions. Most of the victims were young men, mainly civilians, killed in the autumn of 1945. The government commission for mass graves said the remains had been retrieved from Chasm 3, as the grave is named. Jože Dežman, the commission chair, believes Chasm 3 could provide some clues as to what happened to the Novo Mesto Homeguard, a group of several thousand who failed to flee after World War Two.

Brussels embassy, permanent representation move to new premises

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Slovenian Embassy and the Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels were moved to new premises last week to provide for proper conditions for Slovenia's stint at the helm of the EU next year. The temporary move to the new premises, located at Boulevard du Regent, cost Slovenia EUR 26,480, while rent will cost around EUR 290,500 for every three months. The embassy and the representation are expected to move back to the old location, where renovation works will take place, in September 2022.

Slovenian MEP of Macedonian descent target of insults

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian MEP Irena Joveva (LMŠ/Renew) has recently become a target of insults on social media and web portals linked to the ruling Democrats (SDS), including web portal Nova24TV, because of her Macedonian descent, the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) said. Joveva noted that she was not bothered by the insults on a personal level, but rather concerned about the course of Slovenian politics. The LMŠ called on PM Janez Janša, the SDS head, who is a co-owner of Nova24TV, to make sure that "his portal stops publishing insulting, nationalist and racist articles". The prime ministers's office wrote said it would not comment.

Jurist Jambrek buys Adria Airways flight school

BRNIK - The flight school of the bankrupt former air carrier Adria Airways has been acquired by an institute led by former Constitutional Court chief justice Peter Jambrek, who entered the project with a Chinese partner. The Institute for Constitutional System and Human Rights bought the school for EUR 7,500, the asking price at the first public auction. The news portal necenzurirano.si said Jambrek, chancellor of the private New University, is entering the Adria Aviation Academy venture with Chinese businessman Kai Dai. The latter holds 55%, Jambrek 30% and Jamrek's son Oskar Peter 1%. Jambrek told the newspaper Finance the plan was to become the biggest flight school in the world.

Voluntary contact tracing app downloaded by 37,400 in first week

LJUBLJANA - The national voluntary contact tracing app, designed to help curb the coronavirus epidemic, has been downloaded by around 37,400 users since it became available last Monday, the Public Administration Ministry told the STA. This is the number of users who have downloaded the app #OstaniZdrav (#StayWell) by Sunday at 1pm, the ministry said, adding that the feedback was positive, with users praising the user-friendliness and low battery consumption. The app is currently available only for devices with the Android operating system and one of the most frequently asked questions at the ministry's app call centre is when it will be available for the devices using the iOS operating system.

Brussels Airlines pushes its Ljubljana flights to October

LJUBLJANA - Brussels Airlines has once again delayed the resumption of its service between Ljubljana and Brussels, this time until the start of the 2020-2021 winter season on 27 October, on-line portal Ex-Yu Aviation reported. Moreover, Israel's Israir and Ukraine's Windrose Airlines have cancelled their plans to launch operations to Ljubljana airport this year.

Docu on Roglič's Tour de France training, book on Vuelta win presented

LJUBLJANA - A documentary about Slovenian cycling star Primož Roglič preparing himself for this year's Tour de France had a pre-premiere in Ljubljana's Kinodvor cinema, with the film still being in production as it is also to feature Roglič's recent appearance in the Critérium du Dauphiné, the race considered as a warm-up for Tour de France. Roglič, who finished the most prestigious stage cycling race in the world 4th in 2018, is ready for the race that starts this weekend and is considered one of the main favourites. His partner Lora Klinc meanwhile launched her literary debut - Kilometre Zero, a which speaks about her thoughts around Roglič's first win in a Grand Tour race - at Vuelta a Espana last year.

If you're learning Slovenian then you can find all our dual texts here

STA, 24 August 2020 - Entry into Slovenia from Croatia has continued to run unexpectedly smoothly despite the approaching Monday midnight deadline for returns without compulsory quarantine due to rising Covid-19 figures in Croatia. Interior Minister Aleš Hojs assessed that the returns got dispersed across the past week and that some also opted for quarantine.

The Slovenian police said that traffic on the border had been comparable to previous end of August or even calmer; there were no delays at border crossings in the afternoon.

"There has probably been no excessive pressure on the border crossings because we already started announcing the possibly of Croatia being red-listed the weekend before the last one," Hojs told the STA today.

The minister also suggested that some, although not those tied to school or work, had decided to continue their holiday and accept quarantine after it ends.

He moreover said it was very possible that the estimate of 150,000 Slovenians holidaying in the neighbouring country had been exaggerated.

The ministry does not have the exact data, but estimates now suggest around 50,000, whereas the Croatian Tourism Board put its estimate at 45,000.

Hojs added that police teams on the border had been reinforced and that the issuing of quarantine orders was running smoothly, with the average time to issue one standing at 12 to 14 minutes.

He said more than 800 quarantine orders had been issued on Sunday to passengers who were returning from red-listed countries such as Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Croatian Tourist Board has reported that 2.6 million overnight stays by Slovenian tourists were recorded in Croatia from 1 to 23 August, which is 94% of last-year's figure. The Slovenian tourists mostly opted for private accommodation and camping, while 20,000 also stayed in a hotel.

STA, 24 August 2020 - More than 200 firefighters battled what seems to be yet another waste site fire this weekend on the outskirts of Ljubljana. The fire at the illegal dump site just off the city's southern ring road was reported late in the evening on Saturday and it took hours to put out.

The fire enveloped a surface area of 8,000 square metres of fenced-off land owned by the company Varnostni Sistemi, the Ljubljana municipality and several individuals.

While Ljubljana police have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire, the Environment Inspectorate said on Monday that procedures had been running against the waste site operator for years and that the person was charged with environmentally-harmful waste processing earlier this year.

While the police investigation is expected to take a while, preliminary estimates are expected in the coming days.

Valentin Sitar, the director of Varnostni Sistemi, which owns nearly half of the land, told public broadcaster Radio Slovenija that the company had terminated years ago the lease with the former lessee - company Avtoodpad (literally translating as car waste).

He said Avtoodpad shut down in 2011, while his company sued it to have the material removed. When this proved in vain, Varnostni Sistemi also sued a physical person, Sitar said, adding that the inspection services and the criminal police had also been informed.

Sitar said that, to his knowledge, nothing had happened since 2018, when the authorities inspected the site.

The Ljubljana municipality meanwhile said it had lodged a lawsuit against the user of the property in 2013.

The Environment Inspectorate said it found in 2016 that various types of waste were being collected at the site, assessing at that time that 100,000 cubic metres of waste, mostly car parts, building materials, wood and insulation material, were located at the site.

The inspectorate also found that the waste site operator did not have the needed environmental permissions and also did not have the permission of land owners to use their plots. He was ordered to clear the site and was later issued fines worth thousands of euros for failing to comply.

Several inspections followed in 2017 and 2018, a number unsuccessful, because the site was locked. However, the inspectors did find that disused cars had been brought there from Austria by unknown persons.

In 2018, the inspectorate also reported the operator to the police. He told them that Nigerians he did not know occasionally worked at the site. They allegedly entered the premises by breaking the lock, prepared shipments for Nigeria and installed a new lock, when leaving.

Over the past few years, several legal waste facilities caught fire around Slovenia, causing serious environmental concerns. In May 2017, an extensive fire broke out at the Kemis hazardous waste processing plant south of Ljubljana, causing environmental damage and worsening the relationship between Kemis and the locals.

STA, 24 August 202 - Slovenian MEP Irena Joveva (LMŠ/Renew) has recently become a target of insults on social media and web portals linked to the ruling Democrats (SDS) because of her Macedonian descent, the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) has said.

Joveva revealed she had been a target of insults in a Facebook post last Thursday, noting that she was not bothered by them on a personal level, but rather concerned about the course of Slovenian politics.

Her LMŠ party said today Joveva had been a target of systemic insults and harassment from some party media and individuals associated with the SDS on social media. To top it all, web portal Nova24TV published an article on Sunday referring to Joveva as a Macedonian MEP, the LMŠ said.

The full Nova24TV story is here

"Joveva was born in Slovenia, stood for MEP in Slovenia and was elected in Slovenia. Her descent, which she is particularly proud of, is her personal matter and something that does not belong in the political discourse of Slovenia in the 21st century," the LMŠ said.

The opposition party also called on Prime Minister Janez Janša, the SDS head, who is a co-owner of Nova24TV to make sure that "his portal stops publishing insulting, nationalist and racist articles, which are putting Slovenia on the inglorious map of countries ruled by parties that systematically spread intolerance, hate speech and harmful nationalism, which has tragically marked Europe's history in the 20th century".

The Prime Minister's office wrote in a statement for the STA that it would not comment on the appeal.

The LMŠ also called on junior coalition parties, especially those that declare themselves centrist, to clearly say whether they support such spreading of intolerance and hostile nationalism by the senior coalition party

STA, 24 August 2020 - The national voluntary contact tracing app, designed to help curb the coronavirus epidemic, has been downloaded by around 37,400 users since it became available last Monday, the Public Administration Ministry has told the STA.

This is the number of users who have downloaded the app #OstaniZdrav (#StayHealthy) by Sunday at 1pm, the ministry said on Monday, adding that the feedback was positive, with users praising the user-friendliness and low battery consumption.

The modified version of the German app Corona-Warn-App has been available in the Google Play store since Monday at 4pm, and was downloaded by around 5,000 mobile phone users in the first 24 hours, said Minister Boštjan Koritnik.

The app is currently available only for devices with the Android operating system and one of the most frequently asked questions at the ministry's app call centre is when it will be available for the devices using the iOS operating system.

Asked how many ten-place TAN codes, which are received by individuals with a confirmed coronavirus infection, had been entered in the app in the first week, the ministry said that this data was still being collected in cooperation with health authorities.

The data are also being analysed and will be communicated to the public expectedly in the coming days.

Presenting the app a week ago, the ministry said that should the situation deteriorate, it might also develop an app whose use will be mandatory for some persons.

The government has recently put in place a legislative provision that would allow it to make use of a mobile app mandatory for those with confirmed infections and persons who have been ordered to quarantine.

Koritnik said at the time that the reasons for which this provision had been inserted in the latest anti-corona legislation in July had not ceased. On the contrary, it increasingly looks like a mandatory app might be needed.

You can get the app here

The latest statistics on coronavirus and Slovenia, and the latest police news on red, green and yellow list countries. All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia

STA, 24 August 2020 - Two people died of Covid-19 in Slovenia on Sunday and 14 tested positive in a total of 543 coronavirus tests, according to the most recent data released by the government on Monday. Today, thousands of holidaymakers are expected to return from Croatia, because arrivals will be ordered to quarantine for 14 days as of tomorrow.

In total 2,665 of SARS-CoV-2 infections have been confirmed in Slovenia, with 410 infections being active yesterday, of which 17 infected persons were in hospital. The death toll climbed to 133, according to the national tracker covid-19.sledilnik.

The government and health authorities expect the situation to worsen in the coming fortnight, as thousands of Slovenians are returning from Croatia, where the number of Covid-19 cases has skyrocketed.

In the past weeks a significant share of cases confirmed in Slovenia was in people who got infected while on holiday in Croatia.

Last week, Slovenia red-listed the neighbouring country, which means that people coming from Croatia are ordered to quarantine for two weeks. The government, however, gave holidaymakers until the end of today to return without mandatory quarantine.

Health officials have nonetheless recommended that they self-isolate for a while. It seems that many holidaymakers have waited for the very last day to return and tailbacks are expected at border crossings today.

Can I transit Slovenia? Find out from the police...

Concerns about the situation in Croatia

STA, 24 August 2020 - Jelko Kacin, the government's spokesperson for Covid-19, has described Croatia as a "serious threat to all other EU countries" due to the coronavirus situation there. "Time will tell how serious the situation there is. I have many reasons to worry," he told the latest edition of Reporter magazine.

He said Croatia successfully tackling coronavirus was in Slovenia's strategic interest. "They are our immediate neighbours, many of our nationals holidayed there. I think that all the well-meaning warnings expressed by our side and by me were worthy of (timely) attention," he said.

According to Kacin, Slovenia will not allow the situation to deteriorate the way it did in spring. "We simply cannot allow what's spreading from Western Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia were placed on the red list a long time ago for objective reasons, now our southern neighbour, with the numbers of infections that it has 'produced' itself, has placed itself in this group of countries."

"This is not to say that our neighbour is a Western Balkans country, I'm talking about the state of the epidemic there," he said.

Kacin holidayed on the Croatian coast, and after Croatia was placed on the red list some have accused him of double standards. He rejects this notion.

"Croatian RTL television asked me how come I decided to come to them. I explained that in coming to Krk I did not come to them, I came to my place. The building in which I spend my holidays is property of my family. We've been holidaying on this island for a long time, I had not come to visit their institutions."